Filling block for heat exchange, reaction, and absorption apparatus



Nov. 15,1932. H. WILISCH 1,887,704

FILLING BLOCK FOR HEAT. EXCHANGE, REACTION, AND'ABSORPTIQN APPARQTUS Filed March 15, 1928 2, sheets-sum 1 frwezzzvar:

- Hugo h' 'hlrd I m wfimw I J Horny? Patented Now 15, 1932 1,887,704

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE HU GO WILISCH, OI KONlIGSWINTER ON THE BHINE, GERMANY FILLING BLOCK FOB. HEAT EXCHANGE, REACTION, AND ABSORPTION APPARATUS Application filed Kai-ch15, 1928, Serial No. 261,957, and-in Germany larch 19,,19 27.

This invention refers broadly to fillin and art, inasmuch as with this arrangement the packing bodies to be employed for the lling accumulation of flue-dust was even increased of heat exchange apparatus, such as for inand the manipulation of such bricks and the stance the so-called Cowper apparatus, repacking-of thespaces was rendered very difaction, absorption and similar kinds of towficult. There was the additional objection ers and spaces adapted for the production of with the previous suggestions of bodies of the mutual reactions of gases and liquids, and kind referred to that the flow of the gases broadly considered for all purposes in which and the exchange of heat was retarded and a physical or a chemical action is to be prochecking up of the channels was liable to oc- 10 duced onlarge masses of gaseous and liquid cur, and moreover difiiculties arose from the agents, and it is intended among other imincrease of friction of. the ases and reagents portant objects to devise means of obtaining on the surfaces of the pac ing and the frea more uniform convection of the heat and a quent change of the direction .of flow. more thorough reaction than usually obtain My invention which is based on the'princiable heretofore, and to facilitate the manipple of brick-like packing bodies is intended ulation and to produce a very stable accumuto avoid these difliculties by providing for a lation of such bodies in the particular space series of continuous vertical or inclined chanwithout any danger of undue retaining and nels of substantially equal diameter and paraccumulation of flue-dust and other impuriallel to each other or divided into parallel 20 ties. In accordance with the previous art the groups of channels, these channels being packing of the spaces of the kind referred to mainly produced by corresponding grooves either comprised an irregular accumulation or recesses or ribs running along opposite surof different regularly or irregularly shaped faces of the particular brick; By this means packing bodies which were merely dumped a block is produced which is mainly composed into the particular space and the action of of a plurality of elements constituting geowhich was mainly based upon the immense metrical figures of equal shape and sizes, so increase of surface produced thereby; or' that the bricks and composite blocks obtained such packing consisted of brick-like bodies by the union of these elements can be easily a which were arranged in a checker-like manhandled and mounted promiscuously in. any nor in the reaction space or the like. With particular position and in any section of the the kind ofpacking first mentioned there was space to be packed. the difliculty that the draft was considerably The invention is shown by Way of example interfered with, while with the brick-like or in different embodiments of the accompanychecker-like arrangement the contact of the ing drawings, without, however, being regaseous and liquid agents was not sufficiently stricted to the particular shape and arrangeintense, and the convection of heat was not ment illustrated. In the drawings Fig. 1 uniform, inasmuch as the different cross-secshows a packing or filling body according to tional parts of the streams of the gases posthis invention with inclined, substantially sessed difierent velocities and were partly reoppositely disposed parallel grooves or tained by friction and adhesion at the walls ribs.Fig. '2. shows by way of exemplificaof the filling bodies. On the other hand tion a kind of packing obtained with this there was the difliculty that, if a more unikind of bricks or blocks according to Figql form stream of gases was intended to be proof the drawings.Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic duced by a denser packing of such bricks representation of the path'of the gases with- 95 there was a danger of interfering with the in the channels produced for instance in the draft and. the deposition of flue-dust in the embodiment of Fig. 2 of the drawings-Fig. channels produced. Nor could the diflicul- 4 shows another kind of packing by means ties referred to be avoidedb the provision of of the filling bodies with inclined ribs or alternate enlargements an constrictions of grooves with the provision, however, that the a the channels, as suggested in the previous bodies are turned through degrees in the superimposed layers.Fig. 5 is a modified construction showing the provision of projections or the like for the purpose of facilitating the union of the different bricks-Fig. 6 is another modification illustrating alternatingly disposed straight ribs on opposite sides of the brick-Fig. 7 is a plan view of a brick according to this invention and illustrating as an exemplification the provision of communicating transverse holes or perforations.Fig. 8 and Fig. 8a are perspective views of other modifications in which instead of ribs the brick comprises a plurality of parallel, zigzag-like grooves and rectangular projecting portions, Fig. 8 showing the grooves and projections running in the straight longitudinal direction, while Fig. 8a is a modified construction with the grooves and projecting portions constituting inclined recesses. In Figs. 9 and 9a I have shown a modified construction in which the grooves, ribs or recesses, instead of'being provided at the sides of the brick, are arranged on the upper and lower surfaces thereof, so as to be axially turnedthrough an angle of 90 degrees with relation to the bricks shown in'the other embodiments the intermediate longitudinally extending, plate like web being transversely inclined.- Fig. 10 is a representation of another form of construction in which a part of the rib and of the adjoining web is cut away so as to admit of communication between the channels on the opposite sides of the brick ranged either opposite eachother or they may be alternatingly arranged on opposite sides of the brick. With the arrangement of ribs a a webdike central portion 12 is formed which, on account of the increased radiation will readily absorb and radiate the heat to the channels produced by the ribs or The ribs may extend across the broadest sides of the brick-like parallelopipedic body and both in parallel relation to the edges thereof as in an inclined direction, and the arrangement may be such that, while the general direction of the bricks is retained, they are arranged in the succes-,

sive superimposed layers with their ribs exj tending at different inclinations so thatzigzag-like channels are produced, as appears particularly from Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawmgs. I may also combine the bricks with the inclined ribs with layers of bricks in which the ribs extend substantially in parallelism with the sides. This latter arrangement has been found particularly advantaeous at the top'and bottom of the reaction or eat-exchan e chambers. Generally speak-. ing the bric with inclined transverse ribs or projecting parts have been found to be more satisfactory than the bricks with straight ribs which extend in parallelism with the short sides of the bricks, but for some purposes the latter kind of brickshas also proved to be of great service. With the inclined arrangement the gases and other reagents will flow substantially as pointed out in Fig. 3 of the drawings from which it appears that at the points of change of direction of flow the gases and reagents will strike against the sides of the ribs and are by this means most vigorously agitated and mixed. This action is further assisted by the fact that, asabove pointed out, the gas current does not possess the same velocity in all its sectional parts, inasmuch as the lateral parts of the stream will lag behind somewhat with relation to the other portions, particularly the central parts of the gas stream, this action being indicated in Fig. 3 of the drawings by the dotted lines; In the case of the side of the brick-body may also be rounded off, so-that the ribs will present a substantially serpentine configuration. Also in the case of straight ribs a very high degree of efficiency is produced, inasmuch as in view of the very increased action of the draft the lateral otherwise slowly moving parts of the gas streams will be strongly aspirated and thereby thoroughly mixed with the expanding central portions of the stream. This mixing action may be further assisted by arranging the bricks in the different superimposed layers at different angles, so as to obtain the usual check-like arrangement of bricks, and it is obvious that this arrangement may be used equally well with the straight and with inclined ribs.

In'the modification of Figs. 8 and 8a there is no web portion properly speaking, but the ribs are produced by causing alternate sections of the brick to roject outwards in different directions or y bending the brick so to speak, so as to present a succession of adjacently disposed recesses 03 and intervening projecting parts. In the modification of Figs. 9 and 9a of the drawings the ribs are desi ated a1 and the web portion 121, and in t is arrangement in which the grooves run cross-wise of the upper and lower surfaces instead of runnin crosswise of the sides asin the other modi cation a zigzag configuration of the grooves and ribs may also be obtained. B the combination of this kind of bricks wit the bricks of the other modifiof different forms and arrangements of channels may be obtained,

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. them in groups of bloc In order to facilitate manipulation of the bricks and assist the o erator in arranging the bricks may be provided with interengaging projections and sockets or grooves, as shown for instance in Figs. 5, 6, 8 and 9 and 9a of the drawing.

For this purpose I mayeither provide buttons or conical studs 0 on the contacting surfaces of fins f and grooves g as inter-engaging connecting members, so that a plurality roperly arranged bricks of blocks accor ing to my invention, when provided with the projections mentioned may be handled as one compact unit, so as to greatly facilitate the packing of the various spaces with the bricks according to my invention. A plurality of such bricks, properly arranged and combined constitutes a packing block provided with a plurality of continuous parallel channels or groups of channels running in the axial or inclined direction. Inasmuch as the component bricks of such composite blocks are not likely to become displaced in handling, the operator, when packing a tower or the like, can arrange the bricks outside of the particular space and then insert a thereof at a time.

The exchange of heat and of reagents may be further increased by the provision of holes or the like e, as shown in Figure 7, and which pass from. one side to the other of the bricks. They are here shown as running at an inclination to the general direction of'the bricks, but should be understood that they may extend plurality at right angle to the longitudinal direction of the bricks. According to another mod- .ification indicated particularly in Figure 10 of the drawingsa groove or cross-sectionally angular aperture g is provided on the upper or lower surface of the brick and transversely thereof, so as to establish communicaton between the channels on the opposite sides. This is of importance both for the better exchange of heat and of reagents, as well as a means to keep up, the draft and the communication through the packing even in case one or the other of the channels should have become choked up.

In the modification according to Figures 9 and 9a of the drawings the ribs instead of presenting substantiall rectangular or rhombic parallelogram s ape as in theother exemplifications are of substantially triangular shape in transverse section. These flat triangular ribs a are secured in parallel spaced relation to each other on an inclined base b, so that inthis modification the inclination is produced by the base, instead of by the lateral inclination of the parallel projecting rectangular ribs. This modification may be obtained from an ordinary brick or block 'by providing the upper and lower surfaces, that is to say the top and the base of the brick, instead of the sides thereof, with spacedly disposed parallel groove or recesses p which may run both at an inclination to said surfaces, as well as parallel thereof. In the latter case the ribs will of course, be of rectangular, parallelogram shape.- In Figure 9 the ribs are indicated at a and the web at b.'

In all the various modifications a uniform exchange of heat and of reagents is obtained,

and a broad, stable supporting surface is pro-.

vided for the different,layers of bricks or blocks. The bricks'may be arranged in any suitable manner in the different layers, and the layers themselves may either have the bricks running in the same direction in all a space is susceptible of other modifications and changes within the purview of the claims hereunto appended.

' Preferably. the dimensions of the packing should be such that the cross sections of the channels'between the ribs amount to at least half of the cross section of the center portion, and the total free area of the channels amounts to about one third of the cross sectional area of the space to be packed.

I claim 2 1. Packing for heat-exchange and other purposes, comprising substantially brickshaped bodies, spaced parallel projecting ribs on opposite surfaces thereof, and substantially small projections and sockets on the outside of the adjacent brick-shaped bodies.

2. Packing for heat exchange and other well as the arrangement of them in a packing v purposes, comprising a plurality of substantially brick-shaped bodies, spaced parallel projecting ribs on opposite surfaces thereof,

cent bricks and of the projecting ribs thereof.

3. Packing body for heat-exchange and other purposes, comprising a brick-like body, and spaced parallel inclined grooved portions on opposite sides thereof, and comparatively small complemental projections and sockets on the parts between the grooved portions adapted to facilitate engagement of said body.

4. Packing body for heat exchange and other purposes, comprising a solid, brick-like body of substantially quadrangular cross-section, a plurality of spacedly parallel, outwardly and laterally flat projecting ribs, disposed upon and extending across the two opposite, broadest longitudinal sides of the body, and of equal height, said ribs and the body being inclined with relation to each other.

5. Packing body for heat exchange and other urposes, comgrising a solid, brick-like, para elopipedic b y ofv substantially quad-' rangular cross-section, a plurality of equally spaced, equally, projecting, parallel, outwardly andlaterally fiat, cross-wise quadrangular ribs, disposed and extending across the two opposite, broadest and parallel sides of the body, and forming acute angles with certain surfaces of said body. 7

6. Packing body for heat-exchange and other purposes, comprising a substantially plate-shaped, brick-like body, alternatingly disposed projectin portions on the opposite broad sides of said%ody and respectively pro- 7 l5 jecting and correspondingly depresed engage ing and guiding means on the outside of said body and of com aratively small size.

7 Packing bo y for heat exchange and other purposes, comprising a fiat, substantially plate-shaped sectionally quadrangular web-portion of parallelogram-like cross section, and a plurality of parallel, equidistant, parallelopipedic ribs of equal thickness and width along the opposite broad surfaces of said web portion, and at distances substantially equal to their width, the thickness of said ribs being substantially equal to that of the web ortion.

8. Pac ing body for heat exchange and v other purposes, comprising a solid, endwise flattened, brick-like body of substantially quadrangular cross-section, a plurality of spacedly parallel, outwardly and laterally flattened projecting ribs, disposed upon and extending across the two opposite, broadest I longitudinal sides of the body and of equal height.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. HUGO WILISCH. 

